© Andreas Buchberger . Published on September 13, 2011.

Nikolaiplatz as it stands today was a process of conversional development which took its shape over a period of time. While the architectural style (as well as the desired building density) changed, the site layout remained stably constant.

© Andreas Buchberger . Published on September 13, 2011.

Our building stands on a property, which was initially a boathouse at the river` Mur´ (back then an unregulated river course ) four centuries ago. Later a doubled story storage shed was built and even later -in the 80’s the entire area was rebuilt to an underground parking. The storage shed was discontinued, however the property remained in its exact size and position. In order to make a subsequent building possible the construction of the garage within the range of property was laid out for a double story land development in a solid construction.

© Andreas Buchberger . Published on September 13, 2011.

Today our building stands on the property – and fills it perfectly to the last millimeter, the number of floors increased by 2,5 times. This became possible by creating a consistent lightweight construction with a complex rust distributor under the building. This distributes – today invisible – the concentrated loads of steel frame bearings which support the underground parking and which are distributed differently on the area.

© Andreas Buchberger . Published on September 13, 2011.

The clear volume and elegant development reacts precisely to the heterogeneous situation concerning city planning which we came across. On the one side – towards Entenplatz- the house becomes a boundary of space, on the other side – towards Nikolaiplatz – depicts a free standing aesthetic solitaire. A building, which becomes a sculpture through its simplicity.

© Andreas Buchberger . Published on September 13, 2011.

The closed facade components – externally covered with a silver gold resplendent cover coating – accommodate shelves and archives ( depending upon the users desire ) on the inside and become variable thick blocks.

© Andreas Buchberger . Published on September 13, 2011.

© Andreas Buchberger . Published on September 13, 2011.

© Andreas Buchberger . Published on September 13, 2011.

© Andreas Buchberger . Published on September 13, 2011.

© Andreas Buchberger . Published on September 13, 2011.

© Atelier Thomas Pucher . Published on September 13, 2011.

© Atelier Thomas Pucher . Published on September 13, 2011.

© Atelier Thomas Pucher . Published on September 13, 2011.

© Atelier Thomas Pucher . Published on September 13, 2011.

© Atelier Thomas Pucher . Published on September 13, 2011.

© Andreas Buchberger . Published on September 13, 2011.